How to Grow Weed Indoors

Cannabis is an annual, dioecious, flowering herb. That means that under normal conditions it only survives one grow-season. Dioecious reproduction is bi-parental reproduction meaning male and female marijuana plants are different.

Why I’m I telling you this?

Before you start growing cannabis, it is important to know what the end product will be. For example, do you want to the plant to produce very high levels of THC or do you want to keep the potency low?

See the thing is. Male marijuana plants produce very low levels of THC. On the other hand, un-pollinated female marijuana plants produce very high levels of THC. If pollination occurs, male plants produce seeds. And if it doesn’t happen, seeds won’t be produced. That’s why some growers kill or remove male plants to prevent pollination.

Things You Should Know Before Growing Weed Indoors

How to pick strains

If you want quality product, you have to start out with quality seeds. You can either use seeds or clones. If you decide to choose clones, make sure that whatever you buy was taken from a female plant, why?

Clones from female marijuana plants will always be female, meaning you won’t waste time growing male plants if you don’t want to.

Another reason why you should choose clones is. You won’t have to grow the plant from seed and care for it during the early stages. You can find clones at a dispensary near you or online on sites like craigslist.

There is nothing wrong with buying seeds if you have the time and energy to wait for them to germinate and start growing.

Feminized seeds

During the very early stages of growth, it is very difficult to tell male from female marijuana plants. To ensure that you only get female plants you should buy ‘feminized seeds’. Feminized seeds automatically grow up female thus you won’t waste time growing male plants that you don’t need.

Four Things Cannabis Plants Need to Grow

You have the seeds, the next question is, what does the plant need to grow?

Cannabis plants need four things to grow:

Warmth: the optimal temperature for cannabis plants is from 75 to 85ᵒF (24 TO 30ᵒC). Temperatures below 60ᵒF and above 90ᵒF can decrease THC potency or slow growth down. Indica strains are better adapted to cold and Sativa varieties are better adapted to high temperatures.

Water: chlorine can damage your plants, to prevent that from happening, you should let chlorine evaporate naturally or boil tap water for 15-20 minutes before use.

Light: plants need light to power photosynthesis. Also, marijuana plants begin to flower when the day length reaches a ratio of 12 hours light to 12 hours dark. The advantage you have if you choose to grow indoors is. You can control the light cycle thus you can control flowering. Mimic fall/winter conditions during the early stages and 12/12 (day/night) during the flowering stage.

Nutrients: different stages will require different percentages of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. We covered that here.

Advantages of Indoor Growing

Can plant and harvest throughout the year.

Better quality product (no pests).

Better control of growing environment.

Types of Flowers

Sensimilla

Un-pollinated flowering marijuana plant

Most Potent

Female marijuana plant:

Highly potent and does not lose its potency after pollination.

Female plants don’t produce seeds.

Male marijuana plants

Produce Seeds

Doesn’t produce buds for smoking

Hermaphrodite

Not as potent as sensimilla

Created through stress during flowering.

How to Control The Odor Problem

Marijuana odor will attract the wrong kind of attention; to prevent that happening you should buy carbon air filters or ozone generators.

How to Grow Weed Indoors

Grow it on The Roof

If you don’t have enough money or space to grow weed indoors, you should consider growing it on your roof. For this to work you should live somewhere with very little police helicopter activity, also you should make it very difficult for someone on the ground to see what you are doing up there.

Before you begin, make sure that you understand rental property rules or home association regulations in your area if you choose to do it legally. If you go the other route, make your garden impossible to see.

You don’t want to add excess weight to the building, to avoid that you should use lightweight soil or plant without soil. To keep curious neighbors and helicopters at bay you should use other plants such as tomatoes to hide what you are truly growing. You should also think about drainage and who has access to the area.

My advice, keep the traffic low and don’t make it obvious that you are growing marijuana especially in states where it is still illegal to grow weed+.

The advantages of growing weed on your roof are:

You won’t have to buy lights and heaters.

Wind will take care of the odor problem.

Disadvantages

If you don’t hide your plants right, everyone will be able to see them.

You need a flat roof or semi-flat for this to work.

To avoid problems you should control the height, size, and shape of the plants. I suggest you use the LST method (tie down new leaves into or around the pot).

Grow it on The Walls (vertical garden)

There are lots of ways to grow a vertical marijuana garden; you only need a little creativity. You can choose to grow one outdoors or indoors. Using this method, you can grow a lot of weed in small spaces. The problem is. Vertical cannabis systems are expensive. However, if you have the skills, you can set up your own vertical garden.

Advantages:

Requires little space and light.

Better yield: light is used more efficiently.

Requires little electricity.

Snow won’t melt on your roof during winter.

Disadvantages

Expensive to set up.

Cooling costs may be high depending on your setup.

Generally, it’s all about finding unused space and turning it into a garden. The good news is, weed can grow anywhere in your home as long as it gets enough light, air, warmth, and nutrients. So try growing it right now.